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Results tagged ‘ Matt Holliday ’

* Matt Holliday took batting practice on the field today and said that he’s definitely improving in his recovery from tendinitis in his right hand. He had not been hitting on the field, and in the past couple of days had not been hitting pregame at all. He is considered available to pinch-hit and there seems to be at least some hope that he could do more than that at some point. I’ll have a good bit more on this on the site later this afternoon.

* TLR acknowledged that, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he was fined for his remarks on television during Sunday night’s game. He expressed contrition and said he had no issue with the discipline.

* Today’s lineup is the same as Sunday’s, except that Lance Berkman is back in right field with Allen Craig in left. And, of course, Jaime Garcia on the mound.

* Today is the birthday of both TLR and Kyle Lohse.

And, finally, the playlist, which is the last five songs of “Exile On Main Street” today. Just because.

It’s an absolutely perfect day in downtown St. Louis, and if the next two days are like this, we’re seriously in luck. Not a cloud visible, temperatures, in the mid-70s, just spectacular.

* The Cardinals are waiting to hear an update on Matt Holliday, and it could be any minute now. Holliday went to see a specialist to check on his ailing right hand. There still doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of optimism, but all opinions were guarded until the club gets the results of the latest exam.

* Albert Pujols is dealing with pain in both his left ankle and left heel, but neither is severe enough to keep him off the field. Per both TLR and John Mozeliak, nothing has really changed regarding Pujols’ status.

* TLR confirmed that, as expected, Edwin Jackson will start Game 4. Of course if there is a Game 5, Chris Carpenter will start it. That was the whole reason behind starting him on short rest in Game 2.

* Various Cardinals personnel downplayed the potential effect of shadows for Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s late-afternoon games. As of 4:10 or so today, both home plate and the pitchers’ mound were covered in shadow, with a band of light between them. As I write this, at about 5:20, the entire infield is covered in shadows. So if there are any problems, it should only be in the first hour or so of Game 3, and none in Game 4.

* Mozeliak said that he spoke briefly with someone in the Commissioner’s office on Sunday night regarding TLR’s in-game TV comments about home plate umpire Jerry Meals, but that he was merely asked if he knew what TLR had said. He has not heard from New York since then.

* TLR acknowledged that he could have a slightly different lineup for Cole Hamels than he did for Cliff Lee, but didn’t really divulge what that might entail. Hamels has a reverse platoon split this year, though, so that could be a factor.

As the Cardinals continue to their run at the National League Wild Card, their degree of difficulty keeps getting higher. A day after losing Rafael Furcal to a hamstring injury, Matt Holliday was removed from Tuesday night’s game against the Astros because of pain in his right hand.

Manager Tony La Russa said that Holliday will not start Wednesday’s series finale against Houston, but would not speculate beyond that. The discomfort is apparently a recurrence of, or related to, an injury that Holliday dealt with earlier this month. He missed nine games due to an inflamed tendon in his right hand.

“I don’t know what this means, beyond [Allen] Craig is playing left field tomorrow,” manager Tony La Russa said. “But it’s not good news.”

Holliday reported additional discomfort in his hand prior to Wednesday’s game, but attempted to play. However, after 2 1/2 innings and one at-bat, the situation became too problematic, and he was removed in favor of Craig.

“He didn’t take batting practice in a group, which should have told me something,” La Russa said. “I saw him, I’d already written the lineup, and he said, ‘I’ve got a little something.’ … Right then, I thought, I’m not sure if this is smart. We let him go out there, and not only did it bother him to swing, it bothered him to throw.”

The Cardinals will shut Matt Holliday down for the remainder of their current road trip after learning that the outfielder has inflammation of a tendon in his right middle finger.

Holliday returned to St. Louis on Wednesday to have his injured right hand examined, and the club learned the results of the evaluation late Wednesday afternoon. Holliday was removed from Tuesday’s win over the Pirates in the ninth inning after he felt pain in the hand while taking a practice swing.

“He will need four or five days of no gripping and will be re-evaluated early next week,” general manager John Mozeliak said Wednesday afternoon.

“Obviously the fact that he’s having to be shut down is a concern. So in terms of me trying to gauge where it is next week, I don’t think I want to do that. We’re hopeful he can still play again this year, but that will be determined next week.”

Allen Craig started in place of Holliday on Wednesday and is likely to get the bulk of the starts in left field for however long Holliday is out. The Cardinals do not intend to make a roster move for additional outfield depth in Holliday’s absence.

Matt Holliday was a late scratch from Wednesday’s lineup, with Jon Jay moving into the starting nine, but Holliday downplayed the severity of the back discomfort he’s feeling. The Cardinals’ star outfielder “tweaked” a muscle in the area of his left lower back while preparing to lift weights prior to Wednesday’s game against the Brewers.

“I don’t know much,” Holliday wrote in a text message shortly before the game. “Just tweaked a muscle on my left side, low-back/glute. Shouldn’t be more than a day or two.”

Corey Patterson got the start in right field instead of center, where he was originally slated to play, with Allen Craig moving from right field to left. Jay was added to the lineup in center field.

A club source said of the decision to sit Holliday, “We’re just being kind of safe.”

* Matt Holliday is out of the lineup today due to an illness. What EXACTLY he’s dealing with is not clear, but it’s something in a stomach bug-flu kind of realm.

* That’s PART of why Lance Berkman is back in the lineup, one day after sitting out with discomfort in his right rotator cuff. Ideally they might have given Berkman an extra precautionary day, but with no Holliday, that equation changed somewhat.

* TLR declined to describe the shortstop situation right now as a true platoon, noting that Ryan Theriot started against a RHP in Pittsburgh. Still, he acknowledged that Theriot is fighting it against right-handers right now, and that means more time for Daniel Descalso. The manager also said he’s been impressed by what he’s seen defensively from Descalso at SS.

“Like happens to virtually everybody, his stroke is not quite there,” TLR said. “So while he works to get it right, you give somebody else a chance to get some at-bats.”

* Kyle Lohse threw a bullpen session today and said he’s feeling better than he did at this time on his last turn through the rotation. He didn’t put a great deal of strain on his sore finger, however.

* TLR didn’t put much stock in the contention that the field played a big part in last night’s result. It was, of course, the first game played at Busch Stadium since the ballpark was re-sodded following the July 17 U2 concert.

His quote: “Colby didn’t fall. He made a diving play. I saw the guy [Hunter Pence] probably lost it in the lights, break in, misjudge it, we’ve seen that happen on fields that I don’t know if it’s slippery or not. I didn’t see anybody else slip out there. I’m not saying he didn’t. I think that the field is not 100 percent what it’s going to be, or maybe it is, if it stays hot like this. But there weren’t guys slipping all over the place yesterday. I wouldn’t make that conclusion it’s a slippery field because guys were not slipping. That was an awkward play.”

At this morning’s All-Star managers’ news conference, NL manager Bruce Bochy announced his lineup — which included Matt Holliday batting seventh and playing left field. Holliday steps in for Ryan Braun, who is unavailable due to injury.

So, during Holliday’s media availability session this morning, I asked him when he had found out that he would be in the lineup. And, well…

“I didn’t, actually,” he said. “Am I? Oh, cool. Perfect.”

I was inclined to believe him, but Holliday has been known to deadpan a joke or two. A couple more questions were asked, and I followed up. You really didn’t know?

“I honestly didn’t. Freese texted me earlier and said something about starting and I didn’t know what he was talking about.”

More to come on all of the Cardinals’ All-Stars both here and at the site later today.

The Cardinals will have two starters in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game after all. Matt Holliday will start in left field for the National League, joining Lance Berkman, who will play right field. Berkman will bat sixth, with Holliday seventh.

Berkman of course was voted in by fans as one of the three outfield starters. However, in the final couple of weeks of balloting, Matt Kemp moved past Holliday for the third elected starting spot. But when Ryan Braun decided to skip the game because of a left calf strain, a spot came open in the NL outfield.

That opened the door for Holliday, who finished fourth in fan balloting and is having one of the best seasons of any National League outfielder. It will be the second time in an All-Star starting lineup for Holliday, who batted sixth as the right fielder for the NL in 2008. Coincidentally, that was also Berkman’s last start — he was the National League’s first baseman at Yankee Stadium.

Yadier Molina will come off the bench for the National League, which has Brian McCann as its starting catcher.

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